WW & 1st Year Humanities Foundations 2022-2023
Gage Grace
by Lila Baker
Gage is a 3rd grader from McCall, Idaho. He is eight years old and a very interesting person. Gage likes money, because it smells good and it has pictures. He says, “You can buy stuff with it.” Gage believes “Jobs are not fun, but they’re important.” His favorite foods are pizza and most junk foods. His favorite pizza is pepperoni & pineapple. He says, “It’s delicious!” Some of his favorite junk foods are ice cream, cookies, and gummy bears. Gage likes being strong because it makes him good at football and wrestling, which are his favorite sports, along with soccer. He says, “When you have muscles, you can use them to punch your stuffies.” Gage likes comics. He thinks: “Comics are fun to read and make.” As you can see, Gage is a very interesting person.
The Everglades
by Blake Barclay
The Florida Everglades have evolved over thousands of years. Most of the Everglades are made up of water. Plants are essential to the park. There are also many unique animals in the Everglades. As a subtropical region, the Everglades are dangerous and have lots of water.
The Everglades are mostly water. Water fuels the algae of the Everglades. As a sub-tropical region, the Everglades have many swamps. Mercury is a chemical that is deadly to humans and animals. The Everglades are being destroyed by chemicals like mercury. Water keeps the Everglades functioning.
The plants of the Everglades are unique. The Everglades National Park is one of the few subtropical regions in the United States. A swamp is a shallow body of water with lots of plants. Pine bark is multi-layered to protect the tree from fire. Melaleuca trees in the Everglades were imported from Australia. Sawgrass takes its name from the tiny sharp saw-like teeth along the edges of each blade. The plants of the Everglades keep its ecosystem running.
Everglades animals are adaptable. Newborn alligators are not good swimmers. The American crocodile is a distant cousin of the alligator. The Florida cottonmouth snake is the most common venomous snake in Florida. Rare Florida panthers live mostly in big cypress swamps. Many Everglades animals are dying because of climate change. Everglades animals are sneaky.
Animals of the Everglades have adapted to live in water. Unlike the animals, Everglades plants are rooted deep in the water. Lots of the water in Everglades swamps is polluted. The Everglades are a big swamp that covers the tip of Florida.
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: Everglades. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: Volume 14, Issue 8. August, 2004. pp. 3, 15-17
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume E: p. 434.
Everglades Safari Park. Ultimate Guide: Animals of the Everglades. https://www.evergladessafaripark.com/post/ultimate-guide-animals-of-the-everglades
Flowers
by Kelsy Weinrauch
Flowers evolved from spores 130 million years ago. The life cycle of a flower goes on for quite a long time, but not in the same place. Insects and animals pollinate different plants. Flowers and plants can be used for food. They can be found in forests, meadows, flower shops, and gardens. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. I think it’s cool that some flowers are edible and have unique tastes.
All plants grow from seeds. The Passion flower starts from a little seed and then sprouts into a flower. Then insects come along to have a sniff at the flower, dropping off pollen and taking other pollen. The pollen that the insect drops off then goes through the stigma, somehow producing a fruit. The life cycle starts over again when an animal comes to take a bite, leaving half of the fruit. The pecan tree starts from a seed and grows flowers. The wind blows the pollen, mixing it up. Some gets stuck to the tree, going into the flower, and slowly the nuts start growing. Pecan trees can grow to be about 130 feet high. Olives are a fruit that can be made into olive oil by crushing ripe olives to extract the oil. It can be stored for months without refrigeration or danger of spoilage.
Many animals and insects pollinate plants. Butterflies use their long tongues to reach into the flower and suck up the nectar, having a snack while pollinating the plants. Butterflies are only attracted by yellow flowers, mainly because they cannot see other colors. Tiny hairs on bees’ bodies make pollen grains cling fast. They then move along to another flower, dropping pollen. Long beaks on a bee called a proboscis lap up nectar. The Carrion flower may look big and pretty, but it smells like rotten meat and only attracts flies. Pollination helps to keep the plant life cycle alive.
Flowers can be used in different ways and in more places than just outside. Broccoli, cauliflower, and artichoke are all edible flowers. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and narcissus are all commercially grown, which means people can find them in big fields. Flowers all over the world are used as decoration on special days. Some edible flowers are put in teas to give off some more tastes: spicy, mild, cold, and some are just normal. Flowers have unique flavors for protection and for insects to come and pollinate them.
Growing flowers can take just about five to seven days to get a sprout. A tree can take about 100 years to be fully grown. Pollen can be transferred by many methods to pollinate plants. Flowers play a big part in daily life. Without plants, we would all be dead.
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: Flowers. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: Volume 5, Issue 4. April 1995. pp 4, 7-8, 14-15.
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume F: pp. 273, 296. Volume N-O: p. 750. Volume P: p. 226
https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/dinosaurs-ancient-fossils/liaoning-diorama/when-flowers-first-bloomed. American Museum of Natural History. Viewed on March 9, 2023.
Soccer
by Warren Day
Soccer may have started over 2,000 years ago in ancient China. The history of soccer is complex and confusing. There are a lot of rules to the “beautiful game.” All the best countries get together every four years to play the World Cup. People play soccer worldwide and have fun. It is good exercise, and it is fun to score goals and to slide tackle.
The history of soccer is long and not very well-known. The Massachusetts Indians played a soccer-like game called “pasuckquakkohowog.” They would paint themselves so they could not be blamed for injuring other players. The Romans played Harpastum with a hair-filled ball. Some historians think the Romans introduced the game to Britain. Tsu Chu was played by the Chinese with a hair-filled ball around 1700 B.C. Soccer became popular in England in the late 1800’s. It was in the 1900’s that the construction of large stadiums began. History is not the most important aspect of soccer, but it is interesting.
Rules are definitely the most important part of soccer. The four main player positions are: forward, midfielder, back/defender, and goalkeeper. Goalkeepers are the only players who can use their hands, and only in the penalty area. Tripping or pushing are serious fouls, so the other team gets a direct kick. The player who commits the foul will receive a yellow or red card from the referee. If a player gets one red card, or two yellow cards, s/he is ejected from the match. Referees use hand signals to show what will happen. If a team kicks the ball out of bounds, the other team gets the ball. These rules are boring, but if players do not know them, they cannot play the game.
Every four years, countries collect their best players and compete in playoff games. Those thirty-two teams with the most wins qualify to play in the World Cup. The first-ever Word Cup match was on July 13, 1930, in Monteverde, Uruguay. Brazil has won five World Cups, which is the most of any country. The most famous Brazilian player, Pele, is the only player to win three World Cup titles. The first World Cup game on specially grown grass was on June 18, 1994, in Detroit, Michigan. The World Cup is important to soccer because it decides the best team that year.
The World Cup showcases the best players from each country and decides the greatest team every four years. The rules of soccer keep the players playing fairly and safely. Even though the history of soccer is not essential to playing, it can be fun to know. Soccer is the most well-known game in the world. People love it because it’s easy to play and pretty basic…also SPLENDIFEROUS!
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: Soccer. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: Volume 4, Issue 5. May, 1994. pp. 3-5, 8-9, 12-13, 16
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume P: p. 231. Volume So-Sz: pp. 548-549.
Athnet: Get Recruited to Play College Sports – The History of Soccer. https://www.athleticscholarship.net/history-of-soccer-football.htm. Viewed on March 30, 2023.
History.com: This Day in History: 1930 First World Cup. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-world-cup . Viewed on March 16, 2023.
Chilly Willy
by Charlotte Grace
Darkness makes me feel
alive as I stand here
on a mountain of snow. Here
I talk about money,
on a mountain of snow waiting
for someone to come
with a key to open the door. I am
perched on a white, fluffy mountain
waiting for a white car to come.
There she is: Marie with
the key! We all rush toward the
door of the house.
Marie opens the door and everyone
rushes inside.
To print a list of all your VOCABULARY to date, go to the 1st Year Vocabulary page OR play to study your words on Quizlet!
Please have your students read books from the 4th-6th Grade Reading List during the year.
Remember that these lists are not an indication of reading level, but are created to give students a background for their upcoming years of study at the NFS. Please do NOT have children read books from lists that are in their reading level, but above their NFS class level.
“Teaching is mostly listening, and learning is mostly telling.”
-- Deborah Meier, 1995
Cinquain
by Mary Parker (2006)
North Fork:
World History —
Continuously writing poems.
We learn without realizing:
Achievements.
Pieces now in play:
(updated 5/29/23)
Lila
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 0/3
FINISHED!
Kelsy
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 0/3
FINISHED!
Warren
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 0/3
FINISHED!
Blake
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 0/3
FINISHED!
Gage
Revisions = 4/6
Edits = 0/3
1st P Narr: Minecraft
Interview: Lila
Research report: Spiders — cards, web, outline, bibliography
Charlotte
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 0/3
The Yelling Neighbor
Research report: Rain Forests — cards, web, outline, bibliography
Fibonacci Links to explore:
Numbers in Nature reveals the secrets of the Fibonacci sequence in an exhibit from the Annenberg/CPB video.
Dr. Ron Knott's website on Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Section in Nature is a great place to explore the Fibonacci sequence. His site allows you to see many of the ideas we discuss in WW and continue to explore in the 1st Year Program.
See pieces written by WW students (2nd-6th graders) from 2000-2022 HERE.
See pieces written by 1st Year classes (6th & 7th graders) from 2001-2020 HERE.
